New York Times reporter Kathy Gray said Trump campaign removed her from Michigan rally

Michigan, US: A New York Times reporter claimed Thursday night that she was removed from President Donald Trump's rally in Michigan after she posted photos from the event on her Twitter. 

Kathy Gray revealed on the social media platform that she was kicked out of the rally that drew several thousand Trump supporters to Freeland, Michigan. 'I've just been kicked out of the trump rally,' Gray wrote. That tweet was then followed by another which reads: 'First for me: Trump campaign tracked me down from pics i tweeted and escorted me out.'

The photos that Gray had posted showed Trump supporters awaiting the president's arrival. In the caption of one of the images, she wrote: 'Crammed in crowd in the rain for trump rally in michigan. Not many masks.' 'Trump rally in freeland attracts thousands. Maybe 10% have masks,' Gray wrote. 

Crammed in crowd in the rain for trump rally in michigan. Not many masks pic.twitter.com/5DZ6JBVNK8

— Kathy Gray (@michpoligal) September 10, 2020

The president held the rally at the MBS International Airport where he was met by a cheering crowd of several thousand, packed shoulder-to-shoulder, mostly without masks. 'This is not the crowd of a person who comes in second place,' Trump declared to cheers before criticizing Biden's performance during the Democratic debates. 

'The first lady actually came in... and she watched the debate and she watched Joe and she said, "Darling, it's so sad,"' Trump claimed, before taking aim at Biden's running mate, Kamala Harris, who he called the 'most liberal person in the USA'. The mention of Harris brought on boos and jeers from the crowd. 


'On November 3 Michigan you better vote for me! I got you so many damn car plants,' Trump said as the crowd cheered while waving 'Make America Great Again' signs. 

'If Joe Biden is elected far-left lunatics won't just be running frail Democrat cities, they'll be running the Department of Justice, the Department of Homeland Security and the US Supreme Court, and we can't let that happen. 

'No city, town or suburb will be safe. On November 3 your vote will save America. Remember it's the most important elect we've ever had,' Trump added. Trump arrived in Michigan for the rally despite pushback from officials worried that his rallies are growing in size and flouting public health guidelines intended to halt the COVID-19 spread. 


Michigan's Democratic Gov Gretchen Whitmer raised alarms earlier on Thursday about the rally. Whitmer did not try to scuttle the rally, but warned that such events 'threaten all that sacrifice that we've made'.

'Unfinished business': Kamala Harris speaks on responsibility as first Black Woman VP candidate

Washington DC, US: In her first extensive interview since being tapped as Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden's running mate, Kamala Harris emphasized Friday there was "a lot of work to do" for both women and African-Americans.

Harris is the first Black woman on a major-party U.S. presidential ticket. The 55-year-old U.S. senator from California, who made her own run for the White House, is also the first Asian-American on a major presidential ticket. Her parents were immigrants, her mother from India and her father from Jamaica. Harris made the comments in an interview from Biden's home state Delaware with Errin Haines, editor-at-large for the the 19th*, a nonprofit news organization hosting a summit marking the 100th anniversary of the passage of the 19th Amendment which gave women the right to vote.

In the interview, Harris said she embraced her role as the first woman of color to appear on a major party ticket. "There's a lot to be to celebrate in terms of the accomplishment," she said. "But also it should motivate us to also be clear-eyed about what yet has to be done in the unfinished business."

Harris emphasized healthcare, child care, and jobs were some of the issues that would spur high voter turnout among Black women. Four years ago, the first dip in Black voter turnout in 20 years contributed to Democrat Hillary Clinton's upset loss to Donald Trump in the presidential election.

"When you have one ticket that can say the phrase, 'Black Lives Matter', and another who has been full-time sowing hate and division in our country, those are the things that are going to motivate Black women to vote," she said. "There will be a point of pride. I don't want to have any false modesty about a Black woman being on the ticket. But it takes more than just that to motivate Black women to vote."

With social unrest over racial injustice rocking the country for months since the death in custody of an African-American man, George Floyd - after a police officer knelt on his neck for about nine minutes - Biden was under pressure to select a Black woman as his running mate.

She became only the second Black female U.S. senator in history when elected in 2016 and will be relied on to help mobilize African-Americans, the Democratic Party's most loyal constituency. Harris, a former prosecutor and state attorney general in California, is known for her sometimes aggressive questioning style in the Senate.

As a presidential candidate, she took Biden to task in a nationally televised debate over his past stances on mandatory busing for students as a means to desegregate schools. The choice of a running mate has added significance for Biden, 77, who would be the oldest person to become president if he is elected.

"Do you regret all your lies?" India born American journalist bluntly asks US President Donald Trump

Washington DC: SV Dáte, A Pune-born Indian-American  journalist bluntly asked the US President Donald Trump at a briefing Thursday if he regrets "all of the lying" he has done "to the American people" over the last three and a half years.

Shirish Date, the White House correspondent for Huffington Post, asked Trump at a press conference on Thursday: "Mr. President, after three and a half years do you regret at all, all the lying you've done to the American people?" Hover over the keyword to read more about the topic without leaving this page! Soon after the question was shot by the reporter, a visibly uncomfortable Trump asked him to repeat the query. Date followed up with "All the lying, all the dishonesty... You have done." Trump thereafter quietly moved on to another question from another reporter.

This incident is not something new as Trump has been involved in heated exchanges with the reporters during several press conferences during his tenure. Meanwhile, Trump yesterday said that he intended to deliver his Republican nomination acceptance speech from the White House, according to a media report. Trump, 75, is seeking re-election from the Republican party.

Having won the GOP primaries with historic margins, he will formally be nominated by the party through its virtual convention later this month. The convention was initially scheduled to be held in Charlotte in North Carolina but was later moved to Jacksonville in Florida, only to be cancelled again because of rising cases of the novel coronavirus.

The Washington Post fact-checker finds that Trump has made over 20,000 false or misleading claims throughout his presidency. Trump, who has rarely been confronted directly with claims that he has lied, paused for a moment before moving on to another reporter without answering the question.

Trump reacts to Newsweek opinion article questioning Kamala Harris's citizenship

Washington, DC: U.S. President Donald Trump said he would have to look into claims that Senator Kamala Harris, who is the 2020 Democratic vice-presidential nominee as Joe Biden's running mate, may not be eligible to run for office after Newsweek published an opinion article questioning her citizenship.

Harris was born in 1964 in California to an Indian mother and a Jamaican father. According to the article, her parents were not permanent residents at the time of her birth. "So I just heard that. I just heard it today, that she doesn't meet the requirements. And by the way, the lawyer who wrote that piece is a very highly-qualified, a very talented lawyer. I have no idea if that's right. I would have thought, I would have assumed the Democrats would have checked that out before she gets chosen to run for vice-president. But that's a very serious," said Trump. "I'll take a look."

The U.S. Constitution requires any person running for president or vice-president to be a "natural-born citizen." In 2011, Trump famously raised concerns in the past about the eligibility of former President Barack Obama to assume the office, claiming he was not born in Hawaii, and maintained that belief despite Obama eventually producing a copy of his Hawaiian birth certificate.

Trump ignores reporter who asked if he regrets 'all the lying'

Washington, DC: U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday ignored a question by a reporter during a White House briefing who asked if he regretted all the lying he has done while in office.

"Mr. President, after three and a half years, do you regret at all, all the lying you've done to the American people?" asked Shirish Date, Huffington Post's White House correspondent, who later tweeted that he had waited for five years to ask him that question. Trump paused for a moment before he quickly moved on to take a question from another reporter, ignoring Date who looked on.

The president, who is running for re-election on Nov. 3, has long sparred with the media, blasting coverage of him as "fake news" and "hoaxes," and slamming news outlets and journalists on his Twitter feed. His re-election campaign also recently filed lawsuits against several outlets, including the New York Times and the Washington Post.

US Election: Trump said, support for mail-in voting constitutes election meddling by Democrats

Washington, DC: U.S. President Donald Trump defended on Monday, August 10 his recent comments that opponent and former Vice President Joe Biden is "against God." 

"Well, when you look at the manifesto, that they've come up with and if you look at their stance on religion and things having to do with aspects of religion and faith, I don't think a man of deep religion would be agreeing to the Bernie Sanders plan," Trump said during a news conference. Trump's statement comes after he said last week that Biden is "following the radical-left agenda: take away your guns, destroy your Second Amendment, no religion, no anything, hurt the Bible, hurt God." Biden frequently discusses how his Catholic faith has guided his actions as a public official.

During Monday's news conference, Trump also said his poll numbers are going up while Biden's is going down. Recent polls however have shown Biden holding a national lead over Trump and effectively tied in Texas, a traditionally Republican state.

Trump also painted a grim picture of the country following a Biden victory in November, saying, "will go into a depression, we will put on regulation, we will double and triple taxes, it will be terrible for healthcare."

He declined to say if he had spoken to Russian President Vladimir Putin about meddling in the U.S. election after William Evanina, director of the National Counterintelligence and Security Center, warned that Russia is already going after Biden.

However, Trump did accuse the Democrats of meddling "by wanting and insisting on sending mail-in ballots." Biden said last week that Trump was telling "bald-faced lies" about voting by mail to distract from his own failures.

US President Trump walks out of his press conference after reporter presses him on his false claim

Bedminster: US President Donald Trump has abruptly walked out of a press conference after a reporter fact-checked him on his dubious claim about signing a 'Veteran's Choice' bill.

Trump, speaking at his Bedminster, New Jersey, golf club, had claimed again that he is the one who got the Veterans Choice program passed- adding, "They've been trying to get that passed for decades and decades and decades and no president's ever been able to do it, and we got it done." In fact, former President Barack Obama signed the Choice program into law in 2014. The law, which allowed eligible veterans to be covered by the government for care provided by doctors outside the VA system, was a bipartisan initiative spearheaded by two senators Trump has repeatedly criticized, Bernie Sanders of Vermont and the late John McCain of Arizona.

What Trump signed was a 2018 law, the VA MISSION Act, that modified and expanded the eligibility criteria from the Choice program. Rather than tout that bill, Trump has claimed over and over that he created Veterans Choice itself -- after others had failed for "50 years."

"Why do you keep saying that you passed Veterans Choice?" CBS News White House correspondent Paula Reid asked Trump at the Saturday news conference, during which Trump announced executive actions on coronavirus relief. As Trump tried to call on another reporter instead, Reid continued, "You said that you passed Veterans Choice. It was passed in 2014...it was a false statement, sir."

Trump paused, then responded: "OK. Thank you very much, everybody." He then walked away as the song "YMCA" played. Trump had either never or almost never been challenged on the Veterans Choice claim before Reid did so.

US President Donald Trump said he would be in favour of helping US airlines

Washington, DC: US President Donald Trump said on Wednesday he would be in favour of helping U.S. airlines financially when he was asked about a group of Senate Republicans backing $25 billion payroll assistance for companies financially devastated by the coronavirus pandemic.

"We don't want to lose our airlines so if they're looking at that, whether they're Republican or Democrat, I'd be certainly in favor," Trump said at a White House briefing. He also defended his suggestion of giving a speech from the White House accepting the Republican Party's presidential nomination, after lawmakers and ethicists said it was inappropriate and possibly illegal to use a nonpartisan, public site as a venue for a political address.

"Well, it is legal," Trump said when asked about his speech plans, arguing that the Hatch Act prohibiting leaders from trading on public goods for political gains does not apply to him. "If I use the White House, we save tremendous amounts of money for the government in terms of security, traveling."

Trump's bid for a piece of Microsoft-TikTok deal could spur legal action

Washington, DC: On Tuesday, President Donald Trump repeated his unprecedented demand that the United States get a cut of the proceeds from the forced sale of Chinese internet giant ByteDance's short-video app TikTok - a demand based on an interpretation of U.S law that regulatory lawyers say may be open to challenges.

Trump said that he told Microsoft and other companies interested in buying the assets of Tik Tok that the U.S. Treasury would have to benefit also."I told Microsoft and frankly others if they want to do it, if they make a deal for Tik Tok, whether it's the 30 percent in the United States or the whole company, I say it's okay but, if you do that, we're really making it possible because we're letting you operate here. So the United States Treasury would have to benefit also, not just, not just the sellers," he said.

The Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS), a U.S. government panel that reviews deals for potential national security risks, has given ByteDance until Sept. 15 to negotiate a sale of TikTok to Microsoft Corp , amid concerns over the safety of personal data that the app handles under its Chinese parent.

CFIUS legislation gives the U.S. government broad authority to seek mitigation from companies that are jeopardizing national security, legal experts said. While CFIUS has never before sought a cut from the proceeds of a divestiture it has ordered, the White House could argue that imposing a fee on Bytedance would deprive it of resources that would otherwise support China's government on technology initiatives that could harm U.S. interests, some of the legal experts added.

Microsoft has said it is seeking to buy the assets of TikTok in North America, Australia and New Zealand. It has not disclosed how much it is willing to pay, though sources previously told Reuters that ByteDance executives value all of TikTok at more than $50 billion. The White House, the Treasury Department, Bytedance and Microsoft did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Trump hints at steps to block evictions, suspend payroll tax

Washington, DC: U.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday, August 4 continued to underscore his hopes for a swift vaccine to combat COVID-19 while he also hinted that he may take steps to block evictions if Congress does not act.

"We're determined to have a vaccine very quickly," Trump told reporters at the White House. He also said, "We want to take care of the eviction problem." He said he may not have to take steps, that will depend on progress that Congress makes on a relief package. "People are being evicted very unfairly," he said. "It's not their fault, it's China's fault." After weeks of railing against what he has claimed are the potential risks of voting by mail, Trump urged voters in at least one Republican state - Florida - to vote by any means.

Trump, who is trailing presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden in polls, has repeatedly warned in recent weeks without evidence that mail-in voting could result in widespread fraud.

Voting by mail has been embraced as a way to limit exposure to the novel coronavirus, though the system to do so will vary from state to state. Most absentee ballots are also conducted by mail.

On Tuesday, Trump said that in Florida, where he has voted absentee, there was no difference between "vote by mail" or absentee voting, and urged voters in the state to trust their system. The comments come one day after he vowed to sue Nevada, which plans to send mail-in ballots to every voter ahead of the Nov. 3 presidential election.

Colorado, Hawaii, Oregon, Utah and Washington already conduct their elections entirely by mail, while California and Vermont have decided to do so this year due to the pandemic. The issue has spawned partisan litigation in dozens of states over issues like absentee ballots and signature requirements.

Democrats and voting rights groups have warned that cost-saving measures instituted at the Postal Service by a Trump financial backer who is now the postmaster general could lead to delays in service just as voting by mail ramps up.

Trump to give TikTok's Chinese owner 45 days to reach deal to sell - sources

US/China: U.S. President Donald Trump has agreed to give China's ByteDance 45 days to negotiate a sale of popular short-video app TikTok to Microsoft Corp, two people familiar with the matter said on Sunday, August 2.

U.S. officials have said TikTok under its Chinese parent poses a national risk because of the personal data it handles. Trump said on July 31 he was planning to ban TikTok in the United States after dismissing the idea of a sale to Microsoft. But following a discussion between Trump and Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, the Redwood, Washington-based company said in a statement on Sunday that it would continue negotiations to acquire TikTok from ByteDance, and that it aimed to reach a deal by Sept. 15.

It was not immediately clear what changed Trump's mind. Banning TikTok would alienate many of its young users ahead of the U.S. presidential election in November, and would likely trigger a wave of legal challenges. Several prominent Republican lawmakers put out statements in the last two days urging Trump to back a sale of TikTok to Microsoft.

The negotiations between ByteDance and Microsoft will be overseen by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS), a U.S. government panel that has the right to block any agreement, according to the sources, who requested anonymity ahead of a White House announcement. Microsoft cautioned in its statement that there is no certainty a deal will be reached.

Pompeo exposed of misusing public resources for his selfish scheme: US media

The U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Thursday addressed inquiries about Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, whose "improper behavior" during his tenure has been reported by several media organizations in the country.

According to National Broadcasting Corporation (NBC), since Pompeo became America's top diplomat in 2018, he has held taxpayer-funded dinners regularly with his wife, Susan Pompeo, to entertain figures in politics, business, media and entertainment. The dinners have been held 24 times until the COVID-19 pandemic shut them down in March. The New York Times reported that Pompeo secretly visited some important Republican donors during an official trip to Florida in January. In mid-July, Pompeo used State Department resources to participate in the Family Leadership Summit in Iowa, which was an event attended by Republican candidates interested in running for president.

Pompeo's associate also said that he was considering running for an open Senate seat in Kansas and hoped to run for president in 2024. The New York Times also reported that a State Department employee witnessed and possessed "numerous firsthand accounts" about Pompeo's misconduct, which were obstructed by top department officials. The details and people involved in the accounts published afterwards were redacted.

Details of the inquiry into Pompeo and his family, who have been accused of "private use of public resources" have gradually emerged since May. According to a report, the inquiry was one of two investigations conducted by State Department Inspector General Steve A. Linick.

U.S. Senate Democrats released an investigation report entitled "Diplomacy in Crisis" on July 28, two days before Pompeo was set to testify on Capitol Hill. The 46-page report stated that Pompeo and his superiors brought partisanship into the State Department, and plunged the foreign policy group, which should have been detached from the conflict, into a "work environment of fear and mistrust", leading to a large loss of civil servants.

According to the report, less than two months after Secretary Pompeo was confirmed in 2018, Mari Stull, a senior advisor at the State Department's Bureau of International Organization Affairs, compiled a "loyalty list", labeling employees as either "traitors" or "unfaithful". After Pompeo asked President Trump to fire Linick in May, many employees feared possible retaliation. Even State Department attorneys became increasingly afraid to expose internal violations of laws and regulations.

During the Senate hearing on Thursday, when asked about Linick's dismissal, Pompeo said the reason was his poor capacity for work. Before his dismissal, Linick was opening investigations into Pompeo's potential misuse of taxpayer resources and his effort to push an eight-billion-dollar arm sale to Saudi Arabia.

Trump calling for hourly updates as talks on coronavirus bill hit impasse

Washington, DC, US: The White House and top Democrats in Congress are not close to a deal to pump more money into the U.S. economy to ease the coronavirus' heavy toll, both sides said on Saturday, August 1, after an essential lifeline for millions of unemployed Americans expired.

"We're still a long ways apart and I don't want to suggest a deal is imminent because it is not," Mnuchin told reporters, adding "there are still substantial differences but we did make good progress." The officials will meet again on Monday, August 3, and their staff will meet on Sunday, Mnuchin said, adding that reaching a deal on the bill was the President Donald Trump's "top priority." "The president is checking in literally on a hourly basis to see how we're progressing," Meadows said.

On Saturday, Trump could be seen playing golf at Trump National Golf Club, his club in the Washington suburbs. The president, along with most of those in his group, did not sport masks for the outing. Congress for the past several months has been unable to reach an accord for a next round of economic relief from a pandemic that has killed more than 150,000 Americans and triggered the sharpest economic collapse since the Great Depression.

In a meeting on August 30 night between top White House officials and congressional Democratic leaders, negotiations focused on an extension of the $600 per week in federal unemployment benefits, which Americans who lost jobs The House in May passed a $3 trillion deal that addressed a wide range of coronavirus responses, including more money for testing, for elections and support to financially strapped state and local governments.

Trump said he will ban Chinese-owned short-video app Tik Tok in the US

Maryland: U.S. President Donald trump said on Friday, July 31 that he was planning to sign an executive order as soon as Saturday, August 1 banning Chinese-owned short-video app TikTok from the United States.

The move would be the culmination of U.S. national security concerns over the safety of the personal data that TikTok handles. It would represent a major blow for TikTok's owner, Beijing-based ByteDance, which became one of only a handful of truly global Chinese conglomerates thanks to the app's commercial success. "As far as TikTok is concerned, we are banning them from the United States... I will sign the document tomorrow," Trump told reporters on Air Force One.

Trump's announcement followed frantic negotiations on Friday between the White House, ByteDance and potential buyers of TikTok, including Microsoft Corp. They failed to produce a deal that would result in the Chinese company shedding the app's U.S. operations, according to people familiar with the matter. The talks are expected to continue in the coming days.

Pompeo says closed Chinese consulate in Houston was 'den of spies'

Washington DC: U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Thursday, July 30 the "tide is turning" in U.S. dealings with China, saying there is international support for American policies, including the step-up of maritime maneuvers in the South China Sea.

Reflecting rising tensions between Washington and Beijing, Pompeo took a tough line on China in testimony before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. "We see the Chinese Communist Party for what it is: the center threat of our times," Pompeo said. In recent days, Washington and Beijing have each closed one of the other country's consulates - the United States closing China's office in Houston and China retaliating by shuttering the U.S. facility in Chengdu - and Pompeo recently announced an end to Hong Kong's special trading status.

"We closed the consulate in Houston because it was a den of spies," Pompeo said. Pompeo was testifying publicly at Foreign Relations Committee hearing for the first time in 15 months, discussing the State Department's annual budget request.

President Donald Trump's administration has tried to slash the State Department budget since it took office, which has been rejected by Congress every year. Democratic lawmakers told the hearing that they would not support steep cuts this year either.

China said US wants new Cold War ahead of presidential election

London, UK: China on Thursday, July 30 accused the United States of stoking a new Cold War because it was searching for a scapegoat to bolster support ahead of the U.S. presidential election in November.

U.S. President Donald Trump identifies China as the West's main rival, and has accused President Xi Jinping of taking advantage over trade and not telling the truth over the novel coronavirus outbreak, which Trump calls the "China plague". Asked if he saw a new Cold War, China's ambassador to London, Liu Xiaoming, said the United States had started a trade war with China and that there would be no winner from such an approach.

"It is not China that has become assertive. It's the other side of the Pacific Ocean who want to start new Cold War on China, so we have to make response to that," Liu told journalists. "We have no interest in any Cold War, we have no interest in any war. We have all seen what is happening in the United States, they tried to scapegoat China, they want to blame China for their problems," he said. "We all know this is an election year."

The envoy did not mention Trump or Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden by name, but he said some U.S. politicians were doing and saying anything to get elected. "They want to do anything including treating China as an enemy. Probably they think they need an enemy, they think they want a Cold War but we have no interest, we keep telling America, China is not your enemy, China is your friend, your partner."

US Election: Record number of Black women set to run for US Congress

Little Rock, US: A record number of Black women are running for the U.S. Congress in 2020, a year marked by widespread racial justice protests across the country. Democratic Party efforts have focused on flipping seats now held by Republicans.

For Joyce Elliott, an Arkansas state senator who is seeking an Arkansas congressional seat in November, the decision to run was based simply on the fact that she thought she could win. But months into her congressional run, as the country has grappled with a deadly coronavirus pandemic that has disproportionately sickened and killed Black Americans and racial unrest sparked by police violence, the historical moment has certainly not been lost on her.

"So many of us own and have to deal with all of the things that happen in our families and we see, I think Black women and other women as well, internalize things that are unjust. we are so many times the ones that are trying to make sure that other kids are taken care of. Women, I think, just have a whole different way of looking at the world that is more inclusive, many times, because we are multitaskers and I think we see perspectives differently from men. But as much as anything we have been the voices that have been left out and I think people recognize that," said Joyce Elliott, an Arkansas state senator running to represent Little Rock in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Arkansas' second congressional district, which Elliot has hoped to represent, has voted for a Republican president in every 21st century election. For Elliott running for office is a way to be heard. "The women who have had the chance to serve, I think most of them have become a force where they have made contributions where people see that this is something that should not be an anomaly. It's just really been a way of leaving out too much talent. I know in my case I was recruited to run, so I think that really speaks to other people seeing the value of having Black women in politics," Elliott said.

As a child, Elliott was only the second Black student to attend her mostly White public high school; the first was her older sister. If she is elected in November, she will be the first Black lawmaker from Arkansas ever. "I was 15 when this happened, when I was part of force integration. I had gone to a Black school all that time," Elliott said.

"I think the biggest thing I learned overall is to make sure I never treat other people the way I was treated and I never forget that, and remember when people are hurting and people are excluded this is not the way to build unity. So it just really turned me into the kind of person that I would do everything I could to help America live up to America's promise of unity."

In a country in which voter turnout is often lacking, Black women are among the groups most likely to come out to the polls. In the last presidential election, 63% of Black women who were eligible to vote did so, only outstripped by White non-Hispanic women, according to a 2019 report by the Center for Women and Politics. (White non-Hispanic men voted at the same rate as Black women.)

But voter turnout for Black women has historically not also necessarily meant there are more elected officials who look like them. Though Black women are nearly 8% of the population, they make up 4.3% of all members of Congress, according to a report by the Center of Women and Politics and Higher Heights for America, a political action committee that seeks to elect more progressive Black women to elected office. Black women are also underrepresented in other elected offices as well.

That has started to change in the past 10 years. The number of Black women running for Congress - and winning - has increased at a steady clip since 2011. Glynda Carr, the president and co-founder of Higher Heights for America, expects that trend to continue this year. Elliott hopes that her candidacy, successful or not, helps inspire the next generation of political leaders.

"If you feel fear, feel it, but move on. Do not let that become a reason for you to not step up. Know that you are qualified to do what you have been seeing other people do all this time. That which you don't know make sure you learn it. Other people my age, and someone did it for me, we've laid the groundwork for you to run. Make sure if you want the world to be better don't let anything convince you that you don't have a place in America," Elliott said.

Washington: Joe Biden calls Trump the country's 'first' racist president

Washington: Joe Biden said Wednesday that President Donald Trump was the country's first racist president. The presumptive Democratic presidential nominee's comments came during a virtual town hall organised by the Service Employees International Union.

When a questioner complained of racism surrounding the coronavirus outbreak and mentioned the president referring to it as the China virus, Biden responded by blasting Trump and his spread of racism. "The way he deals with people based on the color of their skin, their national origin, where they're from, is absolutely sickening, the former vice president said. No sitting president has ever done this. Never, never, never. No Republican president has done this. No Democratic president. We've had racists, and they've existed. They've tried to get elected president. He's the first one that has.

Biden also suggested that Trump is using race as a wedge to distract from his mishandling of the pandemic. Many presidents including the nation's first, George Washington owned slaves. President Woodrow Wilson, the country's 28th president, is having his name removed from Princeton University's public policy school after recent protests against institutional racism and police brutality. Wilson, who served in the early 20th century, supported segregation and imposed it on several federal agencies.

At a White House briefing later Wednesday, Trump responded to a question about Biden's comments by pointing to his administration's efforts passing criminal justice reform legislation and expanding opportunity zones, as well as the low unemployment numbers for minority groups before the coronavirus outbreak.

I've done more for Black Americans than anybody with the possible of exception of Abraham Lincoln," the president said. Nobody has even been close. Katrina Pierson, a senior adviser for Trump's reelection campaign, said in a statement that no one should take lectures on racial justice from Joe Biden."

Biden has vowed that, if elected, he will begin addressing institutional racism within his first 100 days of taking office. This was not the first time he's suggested Trump's actions were racist.

Biden has built his campaign around the election being a battle for the soul of the nation and says he felt compelled to run for president after he saw Trump respond to a deadly 2017 white supremacist attack on counterprotesters in Charlottesville, Virginia, by saying there were some very fine people" on both sides.

When Trump said last year that four Democratic congresswomen of color should go back to their countries, Biden called it a flat, racist attack.

China strongly condemns U.S. for requiring closure of Chinese consulate in Houston

China strongly condemns the U.S. requirement to close China's Consulate-General in Houston, Texas and urges the U.S. side to recall its wrong decision or there will be countermeasures, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said in Beijing on Tuesday.

The United States abruptly asked China to close its Consulate General in Houston in 72 hours starting July 21. "The decision is a unilateral political provocation made by the United States, which seriously violates international law, basic norms of international relations as well as relevant provisions of the China-U.S. Consular Treaty. The U.S. side is deliberately sabotaging China-U.S. relations, which is unreasonable. China strongly condemns the decision and urges the U.S. side to immediately recall the wrong decision. Otherwise, China will take legitimate and necessary countermeasures," Wang said.

"The U.S. government has long blamed China and smeared it by making unprovoked attacks against the country's social system and by creating unreasonable barriers for Chinese diplomats and consular staff in the United States. It also conducted intimidation, interrogation, confiscation of personal electronic devices and even groundless arrest of Chinese students studying in the United States. The U.S. unilateral announcement on closing China's Consulate-General in Houston is an upgraded action that escalates tensions between China and the United States to an unprecedented level," said Wang.

The U.S. unilateral announcement on closing China's Consulate-General in Houston is an upgraded action that escalates tensions between China and the United States to an unprecedented level, he said. "In last October and this June, the United States set restrictions against Chinese diplomats for no reason. The U.S. side repeatedly opened diplomatic bags from China without permission and seized China's articles intended for official use. The Chinese embassy in the United States has received bomb and death threats recently as the U.S. side recklessly stigmatized and incited hatred against China," said the spokesman.

"It is an excuse constantly used by the United States to groundlessly claim the relations between the two countries are not reciprocal. In fact, the United States has far more embassies, consulates and diplomats in China than China does in the United States," said Wang.

Trump shifts rhetoric, warns virus is getting worse and urges use of masks

Washington DC: President Donald Trump warned Americans on Tuesday, July 21 that the toll from the novel coronavirus would get worse before it got better, and encouraged Americans to wear a mask if they cannot maintain social distance from people around them.

In his first briefing in months focused on the pandemic, Trump told reporters at the White House that the virus would probably get worse before it gets better, in one of his first recent acknowledgments of how bad the problem has become. "Some areas of our country are doing very well. Others are doing less well. It will probably, unfortunately, get worse before it gets better - something I don't like saying about things, but that's the way it is," he said.

In a shift in rhetoric, Trump encouraged Americans to wear masks, and pulled a mask out of his pocket, saying he carries it around. "I mean I carry the mask," he said, before reaching into his pocket and pulling out a blue face mask. "And I will use it gladly, no problem with it, and I've said that. And I say, if you can, use the mask. When you can, use the mask. If you're close to each other, if you're in a group, I would put it on when I'm in a group."

Trump, who downplayed the virus in its early stages and has been focused on reopening the economy in recent months despite an increase in cases, has been reluctant to wear a mask himself in public. He wore one for the first time in public during a recent visit to a military hospital but has otherwise eschewed putting one on in front of the press. Mask-wearing has become a partisan issue, with some Trump supporters saying being required to do infringes on their liberties.

As coronavirus cases skyrocket across the country, including in politically important states such as Florida, Texas and Arizona, the president is shifting his tone to try to get the number of cases under control as he fights for re-election against Democrat Joe Biden, who leads in opinion polls ahead of the Nov. 3 election. He urged young Americans to avoid crowded bars where the virus could spread.

"We are imploring young Americans to avoid packed bars and other crowded indoor gatherings. Be safe and be smart," he said.

Trump again argued that the virus would disappear at some point, but most of his comments on Tuesday were largely a sober recognition of how bad the problem has become.

Trump sought to leave some optimism about scientific developments in vaccines and treatments even as he acknowledged the grim statistics at present.When asked if the U.S. would cooperate with China on a vaccine, Trump, who several times called the virus "the China virus" during the news conference, said Washington would.

"Yeah, we're willing to work with anybody that's going to get us a good result. We're very close to the vaccine. I think we're going to have some very good results," he said. Nearly 142,000 Americans have died from COVID-19.